And 11 that are identified simply as United States — because they cross state lines.

More than 100 in total… and they are pure genealogical gold.

Because there’s almost nothing better for genealogical research than historical maps.

Free. Digitized. Online to peruse at 3 a.m.

And this collection — of Confederate War Maps digitized and put online by the National Archives — is about as good as it gets.

The maps are part of Record Group 109, War Department Collection of Confederate Records, 1825 – 1927, and as explained by Brandi Oswald, archivist in NARA’s Cartographic Branch:

Maps played a very important role during the Civil War. They were instrumental to leaders and generals for planning battles, campaigns, and marches. As a result, thousands of maps relating to the Civil War were created, many of which are held by the Cartographic Branch at the National Archives in a variety of record groups. These maps can include rough sketches created quickly before or during a battle, but can also include maps that were drawn to accompany official reports or even post-war publications. Many are highly detailed and colorized. Civil War maps frequently show topography, ground cover, roads, railroads, homes, the names of residents, towns, and waterways. They can be very helpful to better understand what the land looked like and how it was used during the Civil War era. Maps showing the names of residents can also be helpful to genealogists.1

The digitized maps were captured by or surrendered to the United States at the conclusion of the Civil War, or were later donated by former Confederate leaders, and show well known — and lesser-known — battlefields, fortifications, fort plans and more.

And, of course, remember that NARA isn’t the only source for Civil War maps — not by a long shot. One of the most comprehensive collections of Civil War maps is at the Library of Congress, where more than 2,300 items have been digitized and put online in its Civil War Maps collection.

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5 Comments

Kat on December 2, 2017 at 12:07 pm

Thank you, Judy, for this post on the Civil War maps! I located a Vicksburg map which included my home area in Yazoo County, Mississippi. This map shows not only the roads and towns, but the location of homesteads of prominent citizens! (NARA identifier: 70653037)

Ooh ! Ooh! Maps! My favorite thing (almost)! One of my best genealogical experiences was finding the perfect map large scale map of the neighborhood where my 3xggrandfather lived in the archives in Nova Scotia and ordering a copy. As the archivist flipped it over to put it face down on the platen, we noticed an inscription on the back, signed by the surveyor who had made the map for ….. Yup! ….. there was ggggrandpa’s name. The archivist was stunned, and I gladly paid extra for a copy of that flip side.

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